- teachers to return a week before the students in January to plan and prepare.
All I ever hear from teachers is "we don't get those long holidays like the kids do" even though they seem to be slouching around all the time when the kids are off.
- teachers to return two days before students during midyear holidays.
Refer above
- teachers in leadership positions (e.g. assistant principals, deputy principals, head teachers) shouldn't be allowed to work part time (e.g. two days a week). They should be forced to relinquish their position until they are able to return full time.
Yep. Pisses me off in industry as well - if you're simply doing a function that is transactional then fair enough, reduced hours can be coped with. LEadership of all things requires a constant presence to ensure the direction is adhered to.
- teachers should not be allowed to take additional leave (long service leave etc) in the first four weeks of a school year.
Assuming teachers DON'T get school holidays off then all forms of leave (barring sick and bereavement) should have to coincide with the time off for kids.
If on the other hand teachers do get that time off plus the additional leave and LSL then they should do a propoer handover to their replacement and allow the replacement to do a proper handover when they get back. How the hell does a teacher come into a classroom 4,5, or more weeks after the kids have started a year and pick up the process without disadvantaging the kids?
- the education system should be federalised, with a national curriculum and assessment program.
Absiolutely.
- the curriculum should be streamlined so that teachers aren't teaching crap like healthy eating and road safety. These are PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES and they suck out important learning time in other areas.
Given most kids are dullards I'm actually happy to include this in school. Equally I wouldn't have teachers teaching it, I'd go for some lower grade of muppet.
Sppeaking of which there should be a mminimum of 1 hour PE each DAY with mandatory additioanl classes for overweight kids. And I'm not talking games of cricket or tennis, I'm talking sweaty gut busting activities.
- teachers should sit regular testing in key learning areas like maths and english to determine competency and areas for professional development.
Teachers should have a career path available to them that may or may NOT take them out of the clssroom as they desire. To many good teachers (well ok, I only know 1 personally and she was my Year 7 English teacher) move into admin roles because they pay more.
- the government should widen the berth for 'school numbers' so that schools aren't in limbo about how many classes and teachers they'll be allowed to have dependent on re-enrolments at the start of each year (this stops schools from finalising classes for a week or so after school goes back).
Agreed
What would you want changed?
Teach kids some useful life skills like shorthand and speed reading.
Teach them critical thinking so they understand why the CONCEPTS espoused in To Kill a Mockingbird are so very critical to their everyday life.
Make assessment be based around more than just rote learning and recitation
Make philosophy a compulsory subject in the same manner as the French do. Make people consider the human condition.
Get rid of political bias and agendas (from both sides). Teach the kids critical thinking so they can see through the marketing BS that makes Maccas/Mickey Ds so popular, smoking seem cool and Paris such a "role model". And that same style of thinking will ensure they question politicians before voting for them instead of believing the populist bullshit.
That probably enough for now.
SG
